


Almost

by trubenblack



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron and Katelyn have kids!, Fluff and Angst, Good uncle andrew, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Slow Burn, Swearing, Violence, neil is so dramatic we love him, past pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17982617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trubenblack/pseuds/trubenblack
Summary: What if Neil hadn't said yes to Wymack but instead had run?What if he met the Minyard's many years later?____The fic where Neil is very dramatic but doing his very best and everyone just wants the best for him.





	1. Chapter 1

Neil Josten was not having a good day.

 

He had spent the morning running last minute Christmas errands for his landlord because he literally couldn’t afford rent right now and almost half the stores had either been unwilling to give him his items or just closed. Fuck Christmas time it was such a waste, or rather it was a waste for him and it was wasting his time. He hadn’t been able to eat at all and now a child had just sprinted into him and fallen over and was now crying.

 

Neil knew nothing about children but he was damned if he was going to let a child cry because of him. He crouched down to the sobbing kid, he looked to be about 5 and had just landed awkwardly on his elbow. It would bruise at worst, but Neil knew that most children didn’t grow up with bruises being the easy way out.

 

“Hey, hey let me look at that are you okay? Is it just your elbow?” The kid sniffled and nodded, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

 

“I'm sorry,” Neil couldn’t help the internal awe at the kid pronouncing it more like sowwy. “I didn’t mean to hit you I didn’t see you, I'm sorry.” The kid burst into more tears and Neil wasn’t quite sure what to do, he wasn’t going to hug a child that he didn’t know, so he did what he did best, he talked.

 

“Hey! It’s okay! I'm not hurt not even a bump, I’m not mad don’t worry!.” The kid sniffed again before looking at him with big brown eyes.

 

“Really?”

 

“Really, really.” Neil promised solemnly. “How’s your arm buddy does it hurt?” The kid nodded, “I’ll tell you a secret I learned from my mother if you put some pressure on it, it won’t hurt as much.” The kid looked at him like he’d just told him the secrets of the universe, placing his hand tightly over his elbow. He winced a little at the original pain of pressing on swelling but soon his face brightened up and he looked at Neil happily.

 

“It worked! Thank you!” Neil smiled at him and was about to answer when a particularly stressed looking woman came running into sight.

 

“Alexander what are you… Oh, Alex what did you do are you okay?” She immediately switched out of frustrated to worried mode, coming to check over her son. “Daddy and I were so worried.”

 

“It’s okay mummy!” The kid, Alexander it seemed, replied. “I’m sorry for running off, I hurt my elbow but he helped me!” He pointed at Neil who felt a bit like a deer in the headlights, especially from the slightly suspicious look he was being given by the mother.

 

“He bumped into me and fell over, I was just showing him how to make the bruise hurt less.” She stared at him for a moment before turning to her son to see if he was telling the truth. Alexander nodded.

 

“He told me to put pressure on it and it wouldn’t hurt as much and he was right! Look mum, it doesn’t hurt at all!” She smiled at him.

 

“That’s great sweetie.” She turned back to Neil, “thank you for helping him I am so sorry that he ran into you are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” Neil stood up to start making his way back into the crowd but she called out again.

 

“How about I treat you to afternoon tea? My husband is somewhere around here and I'm sure he’d be as grateful as I am to you for not reacting badly, Alex has done this before and the last woman was… not as kind.” Neil wanted to say no, he wasn’t good with people and having their attention on him like this made his skin itch, but he was starving and he couldn’t afford food right now.

 

“That sounds great,” he did his best to smile at her, although his mouth muscles didn’t quite know what he was doing. She smiled back at him encouragingly before pulling Alex to his feet.

 

“Come on lets go find Daddy.”

 

“Is he coming with us?”

 

“Yes, he is because we have to apologize to him for you running into him.” She said somewhat sternly, but her face was fond.

 

“I'm gonna walk with him!” Alex said before running over to Neil, who was rather perplexed with everything that was going on. He looked at the woman and she smiled again.

 

“I’m Katelyn! It’s lovely to meet you even if this is a rather odd circumstance,” she grimaced apologetically.

 

“I’m… Neil.” He was still getting used to saying his real name to people, or as real as his name got he guessed. According to the FBI he was a real person, he was rather glad he had a layer of makeup on over his scars, he wasn’t sure what this families reaction would have been like if he hadn’t. Probably screams considering that what he felt like doing when he looked in a mirror.

 

He made his way with the woman over to a short man holding a buggy with a toddler inside of it, Katelyn called out to him and he turned around, and Neil froze. He felt his face going white but he wasn’t too worried about that, he would recognize that face anywhere, or he thought he would, but this face held a smile and he took a step back, confused for a minute. The man’s eyes slid to him with a little suspicion but there was no recognition within them.

 

“Neil this is my husband Aaron.” Neil felt his whole body relax as Katelyn relayed the details of what had happened. Aaron stepped toward him and he couldn’t help tensing just a little, the last time he’d seen a face very similar to this one, he’d had an Exy racquet slammed into his ribs.

 

“Hey, I’m sorry about Alex, he keeps running off.” Aaron seemed to be despairing a little but he still looked down at his son fondly, if Neil was honest, this was not something he would have expected for either of the Minyard twins from what he had known about them. He’d stopped listening in to anything about Exy or Kevin Day after _that day_ as he called it in his head. On the day he said no to the foxes and continued doing what he knew best he had said no to his one shot at Exy and he had left it behind, it was too painful to think about “what could have been.” Except now here he was walking with Aaron and Katelyn while she happily chatted to them. Aaron mostly did the answering; Neil had never been particularly good with conversation. It hadn’t been something he was exactly trained in as a child.

 

They reached a place that looked a bit like a sandwich bar and sat down, Alex yammering for some sort of sandwich and the toddler attempting to tell her father what he wanted. Neil had to admit the way Aaron talked to her with a smile on his face was rather endearing to the man. He took a deep breath, he only had to do this for half an hour at most and then he could disappear, they’d never remember him.

 

“What would you like?” Katelyn jolted him out of his thoughts with a smile.

 

“Oh no it’s fine don’t worry about me.”

 

“No I insist! That’s why you’re hear after all, I’ve learnt as a mother that the best way to buy someone’s happiness is to bribe them with food.” She let out a carefree laugh as he smiled a little at her.

 

“I’ll just have a juice thank you.”

 

“Great! Juice and sandwich it is!” She walked off before he could complain, Aaron looked him up and down once she was gone.

 

“Sit down, you look like you’re about to pass out. When was the last time you slept?” His tone was oddly formal.

 

“I- What?”

 

“You look like you haven’t slept in a week, have you seen a doctor?”

 

“I don’t… sorry but I’m fine.” Aaron hummed in obvious distrust of his response when Katelyn came back; she took one look at Aaron’s face and put her hands on her hips.

 

“Aaron were you doctoring him again?” Aaron looked sheepishly at her.

 

“He’s heavily underweight and he looks like he hasn’t slept in ages Kate I couldn’t help-“ She glared at him slightly and he shut his mouth flushing, Neil was feeling distinctly awkward at being talked about like he wasn’t there he shifted anxiously in his seat.

 

“Sorry about him Neil, he never knows where work ends and normal life begins,” she smiles fondly and it’s clear she’s not actually mad at her husband. It was odd, seeing someone so fond of one of the twins, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t happy for them in some twisted way. He wondered whether Andrew had grown up and found himself a wife, maybe he smiled too although Neil doubted that a lot.

 

A small hand pulled on his shirt and he looked down, Alex lifted his hands up in the universal sign of _up please,_ Neil looked at Katelyn to make sure she was okay with him and she smiled and nodded at him before turning back to Aaron to continue their conversation. Neil lifted the boy up and he made himself comfortable on Neil lap. Neil was a little uncomfortable he didn’t think he’d ever held a child in his life but Alex seemed happy. He reached up and tugged at Neil’s hair.

 

“You have red hear, Daddy and Mummy are both blonde so I’m a blonde, Uncle Andy is blonde too but Kevin has black hair!” He seemed proud of himself for listing off the different colors, Neil stopped himself from tensing at the mention of Andrew and Kevin.

 

“Did you learn your colors at school?” He asked.

 

“Yes! And Uncle Andy helped me to remember them because Daddy was at work.” He looked very pleased with himself.

 

“That’s very good, what else have you been learning.”

 

“The alpha – albaphet!” Neil couldn’t help himself from smiling slightly at the mispronunciation as the boy went through his ABC’s happily. He zoned out a little only to be brought back by a hand on his face.

 

“Your face is bumpy.” Alex laughed a little and Neil froze.

 

“Um yes it is.”

 

“Why?” Fuck he really shouldn’t have come here, this was why he didn’t talk to people, he couldn’t be mean to the kid but he wasn’t exactly going to tell him that his father and his fathers friend burned and tore him to pieces. Luckily he was saved by Katelyn interrupting.

 

“Alex! Come and eat more of your food, stop pestering him.” She smiled at Neil but he smile faded a little as her eyes stuck to his cheek. Shit, Alex must have smeared the makeup off enough for his scarring to be seen.

 

“What’s-“ Aaron started but Katelyn quickly cut him off.

 

“You’re very good with kids Neil! I'm sure yours must love you.” Neil choked on his drink, staring at her in surprise.

 

“Oh no I don’t-“

 

“Oh my god I'm so sorry!” Katelyn looked embarrassed, “I just thought you were so good with them and it’s usually only parents that are nice to other peoples kid’s I'm so sorry.”

 

“Kids don’t deserve to be treated badly by anyone.” Neil said firmly, “they can’t look after themselves so it’s any adults job to make sure they’re safe.” He realized he’d gotten a little passionate as Katelyn was looking at him with surprise, Aaron was looking at him with something akin to… respect?

 

“You’re absolutely right!” Katelyn said, “Alex seems to love you, how about you come over for dinner on Saturday night?”

 

“Oh no I couldn-“

 

“You look like you need the food.” Aaron butted in, and he was right, Neil really did need the food. He counted to ten in French and then looked up, he was probably making the stupidest decision of his life but –

 

“Okay” he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Neil had literally never been this anxious in his life, he seriously regretted saying yes to Katelyn Minyard and Aaron, but he’d agreed to it and Neil Josten was not weak. He’d lived though 8 years on the run, being tortured and abused by his father and beaten by his mother, he could make it through one dinner party.

 

Couldn’t he?

 

He’d spent almost an hour going back and forth in his head trying to work out whether he was actually going to go and now he found himself outside the address he had been given with a bottle of wine his landlord had given him for “finally making some friends” and his duffel on his hip. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door, a few seconds later Aaron came and opened it, before he could say anything though, a zip of color screaming “Neeiiiiil!” Slammed into Neil’s legs. Alex looked up at him with big eyes.

 

“Mummy won’t let me taste the cookies.” He pouted slightly. Neil was a little uncomfortable at being touched and Aaron seemed to see that because he pulled his son away gently.

 

“You know you’re not allowed one because they’re hot and they have to wait until after you’ve finished your dinner.”

 

“But Uncle Andy said-“

 

“Your uncle is terrible at looking after himself when it comes to food buddy don’t listen to him.” Aaron stood up and nodded to Neil, “come on in.”

 

Neil walked in expecting it to just be Katelyn and almost ran into a tall man with curly hair.

 

“Oh hi! I'm Nicky!” Neil stared at him for a moment, he was very loud “I'm Aaron’s cousin! You must be Neil, Katelyn mentioned you were coming, come on she’s just through here.” Aaron looked back at Aaron who rolled his eyes and motioned for him to keep moving. He went forward feeling more and more awkward, he hadn’t been expecting there to be other people here. Nicky was already talking to Katelyn by the time he got in so he left the bottle on the counter.

 

“Oh Neil! Hi! Come on in, can Aaron take your Jacket or your bag?” Neil held on to his duffel tightly.

 

“No I’m okay thank you,” Aaron gave him an odd look but let it go, neil made himself at home out of the way, making sure he could see the window just in case, the door out was in sight but the door leading further into the house was out of his peripherals which made him anxious but he was fairly sure everyone except the baby was in the kitchen with him. Everyone chatted away, Nicky asked Neil about his family, when he said none Nicky faltered a bit before picking up and chatting about his husband in Germany, apparently he was here visiting Aaron and Katelyn for Christmas but Erik had to fly out later, work Nicky told him sadly. Neil only half listened to Nicky, he was uncomfortable with the amount of people in the room and the amount of noise.

 

He felt more than heard another person enter the room. He turned to find a pair of eyes he couldn’t help but recognize but they were different. Andrew Minyard stood in the doorway. He looked basically the same as six years ago but without a smile stretching across his face, his eyes still held the same emptiness that Neil had seen in their first meeting. Neil had a sudden realization that Katelyn must have gotten pregnant early with Alex, Aaron and Andrew were only in their second year when _the day_ had happened.

 

Neil tensed up, Andrew’s eyes were on him, Nicky turned to see what he was staring at and yelled out an Andrew! Katelyn and Aaron turned to greet him as well, Aaron nodding and Katelyn smiling happily, Andrew’s eyes didn’t leave Neil’s as he said a low hello. The talking stopped a little as Nicky, Katelyn and Aaron looked between the two of them, luckily Neil’s savior came in the form of a five year old screaming “Uncle Andy!!” Andrew received the same greeting as Neil did, finally his eyes flicked away from Neil and he crouched down. His whole demeanor softened as he looked at his nephew.

 

“Hi there Al, how’re you doing?” He said softly, softer than Neil could imagine him ever talking.

 

“I’m good! Mummy won’t let me have cookies before dinner.” The five year old pouted.

 

“Well we cant have that, I’ll definitely sneak you some if I can,” Andrew fake whispered, Aaron and Katelyn seemed to get over the weirdness between Neil and Andrew, Aaron was watching his brothers with happy eyes and Katelyn turned to finish up the cooking.

 

“What was that about?” Nicky said to Neil, Neil jumped; completely having forgotten that he was there.

 

“I have no idea.” He said stiffly, he was saved from Nicky continuing to question by Katelyn singing out “dinner time!”

 

As they all served themselves and sat down, Katelyn suddenly remembered she hadn’t introduced Neil.

 

“Oh! Andrew I'm sorry, this is Neil.” Neil froze a minute, not looking up from his food. Andrew didn’t say anything and conversation started up again. Eventually Neil looked up to find Andrew’s eyes on him, there was a small crease between his eyebrows.

 

“I know you from somewhere.” He said, conversation teetered off around the table.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Neil tried to keep his voice even and questioning, he had always been a good liar.

 

“I do. I know your face, I’ve met you before.”

 

“I’ve been told I have a very common face.” Neil said nonchalantly, Andrew snorted.

 

“Liar.” Neil stiffened a little at that, it was true but he still managed to find it within himself to be offended.

 

“Andrew.” Aaron said in a low warning tone before Neil could respond. Andrew waved him off.

 

“I never forget a face.”

 

“It seems you’ve made a mistake, are you feeling okay? Do you need some water?” Andrew scowled at his meager attempts to turn the subject and Neil couldn’t help himself, he scowled back. Unfortunately for him, Andrew’s eyes filled with recognition.

 

“You had brown eyes.” He says softly almost to himself, Aaron seemed to be getting agitated. “You’re Neil Josten, our long lost striker, back from the dead it seems.” Neil froze, Aaron turned to him with recognition dawning in his eyes.

 

“Wait, you’re the one that never turned up? Kevin threw an absolute _shit fit_ when you didn’t turn up.”

 

Neil couldn’t do this, he’d made a huge mistake coming here, he may be a real person now but he couldn’t be if people knew his history at all. He shot up from his chair with his duffle and took off as fast as he could. He almost made it to the door but unfortunately Andrew knew the house better than him and he found himself up against the wall with a knife pressed to his stomach. He fought not to panic, he knew Andrew wasn’t one of his fathers men who seemed to plague him even to this day, four years after Nathan’s death, but it didn’t make it any easier, he felt the panic rise in him and switched into autopilot. He didn’t really think about what he was doing, he felt the knife pressed lightly to his abdomen, he knew Lola’s training, and he knew that Andrew was holding the knife how a street fighter would. He wasn’t Lola and he wasn’t expecting Neil to fight back, so one rip to his thumb and a twisted arm later, Neil had Andrew against the wall with a knife to his back.

 

He heard a gasp as Andrew grunted slightly and suddenly remembered where he was, he turned around to see four sets of eyes staring at him in fear, one set was a small child’s, he had put that fear in Alex’s eyes, this was his fault. He dropped the knife on the floor and released Andrew.

 

“I – I’m sorry.” He said as he backed away and out the door. As soon as he was out, he did what he did best. He ran. He ran until he couldn’t breathe and then he kept running until he collapsed. He only realized he was crying when he tasted salt that wasn’t sweat, he’d never felt more like his father than he did right now with Alex’s terrified eyes burned into his retinas. He lay on the grass of wherever he was and tried to catch his breath but he was panicking and he could feel it. He didn’t know what to do.

 

“Neil!” A woman’s voice called and he heard a car door slam, he knew he should look up, maybe he was finally dying and it was his mother coming to beat him from hell. “Oh god, he’s having a panic attack, Neil can you hear me?”

 

“Move Katelyn.” A rough voice said, before Neil felt somebody stomp near him. He flinched as a rough hand landed on the back of his neck, the hand immediately pulled away, but the act of flinching actually shocked his body enough to help him finally breathe. He gasped in air as his lungs finally started to work again, his brain finally catching up to what was going on. He looked up to find Andrew crouching near him and Katelyn hovering anxiously further back.

 

“This sight seems familiar.” Andrew said softly, something akin to dark humor in his eyes.

 

“Fuck you.” Neil panted out.

 

“We’ve been through this before Josten, this pain was your doing, not mine.” Andrew’s eyes were hard but he wasn’t wrong. He put his hand out to help Neil up; Neil ignored it and pulled himself onto his feet for all of two seconds before his legs gave out underneath him. He gasped in pain as his face hit the ground and Andrew grunted in surprise. He could feel his head spinning as he tried to push himself up. He managed to sit and turn towards them and Katelyn squeaked, Andrew stared at him with something akin to shock. He’d pulled all of his fucking concealer off. He hurriedly covered his face but it was already too late.

 

“Oh Neil.” Katelyn’s voice was filled with tears and pity; Neil couldn’t bring himself to look at her.

 

“I was following you to see if you meant my family harm but it seems you have a lot more of a story to tell.” Andrew’s voice held no pity, maybe a bit of interest but nothing else. Neil turned to look at him and saw something in Andrew’s eyes he often saw in his own, a never-ending tiredness that comes with having seen awful things in your life. Andrew reached out his hand again, this time Neil did take it, he was pretty sure he couldn’t get up by himself even if he tried. He stumbled a bit and suddenly his arm was around Andrew’s shoulders with Andrew holding most of his weight.

 

“I’m sorry I – “

 

“Shut up and just walk to the car before your legs give out completely you idiot.” Andrew growled. Neil shut up and focused on walking as Katelyn hovered around them both wanting to help but not wanting to upset either of the men. Andrew deposited him in the back seat of a black car that looked incredibly expensive and Katelyn got in with him. Andrew slammed the door and rounded the car getting into the front seat. Neil knew if he hadn’t exhausted himself and his brain by panicking he would definitely not be in this situation right now but he honestly couldn’t bring himself to care too much. He jumped when Katelyn’s hand touched his ankle.

 

“We need to get your feet elevated, you’ve exhausted yourself and possibly hurt your legs, can I put your feet on my lap until we get to the house and can get you some icepacks?” Katelyn’s voice was calm but soft. Neil stared at her in shock.

 

“How do you-“

 

“I’m a nurse Neil, injuries are my every day, you’re not the first and I certainly doubt you’ll be the last person I see with severe exhaustion.” Neil stared at her in shock.

 

“Why would you help me? Why would any of you help me?” He directed the question at both the people in the car. Andrew’s eyes met him in the mirror and Neil could see his jaw muscles working.

 

“Because the look in your eyes when you attacked me wasn’t anger, it was fear.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked!!!! Next chapter up in a week! let me know what you think as always kudos and comments are appreciated


	3. Chapter 3

Neil woke up on a couch that was not his own, with legs that shook when he tried to move them. He felt himself panic, maybe his fathers people had got him? Why would they have him on a couch that wouldn’t make sense, he searched around for a gun or anything he could use to protect himself.

 

“Neil.” Neil froze, that wasn’t the voice of one of his father’s men. Slowly the night before came back to him and then he was filled with a different kind of fear. He didn’t understand why this family had helped him at all, he vaguely remembered being helped on to a couch and Aaron and Katelyn getting icepacks for his ankles and apologizing multiple times, but that was about it, maybe the exhaustion finally got to him. He looked up and met Andrews hazel eyes which looked almost empty but there was some sort of emotion underlying that.

 

“I’m-“

 

“If you apologize one more time I swear to god I’ll cut your tongue out.” Neil’s mouth snapped shut. “We’re going to play a game.”

 

“I'm not a fan of games.”

 

“I’m not a fan of liars but here we are.” Andrew stared at him and Neil hated himself for shrinking back into himself a little.  “It’s a game called truth for a truth.”

 

“I’m assuming I don’t have any say in the matter.” Neil sighed, he couldn’t run away his legs wouldn’t move for him.

 

“Not particularly.”

 

“Okay, who goes first?”

 

“Me, why did you run last night?” That… wasn’t the question Neil had been expecting, he’d been expecting _who are you really?_ Or _what happened to your face?_

 

“I… I didn’t mean to attack you I wasn’t really thinking and then I turned and I saw Alex’s face and I saw how much I terrified him and I just… I can’t be like _him._ I won’t” Andrew stiffened at Neil’s words and stared at him for what felt like hours. Finally he nodded.

 

“It’s your turn.”

 

“Are your armbands just for your knives?” It was Andrew’s turn to hesitate before a slow smile that had no amusement in it tilted his lips up slightly.

 

“No.” He said, staring at Neil like he was waiting for him to push. But it wasn’t Neil’s turn and he clearly didn’t want to talk about this.

 

“It’s your turn.” Andrew narrowed his eyes slightly before continuing with his next question.

 

“What caused those scars?” 

 

They continued like that back and forth, both letting go of small secrets and a couple bigger ones on Neil’s part. It wasn’t easy that was for sure. Neil found himself freezing up many times, so unused to letting people know his secrets. He kept telling himself that he was safe, the FBI had caught most of his father’s circle, and Andrew didn’t seem to want to harm him now. Andrew let him have his time when he had to quiet the voices inside his head, his mothers the loudest, he could feel her fists on him much like he had all those years ago when Andrew and Kevin had come to him, he was getting better at silencing her, after all, her life of running hadn’t exactly kept him safe in the end. They talked for as long as they could until Neil started to feel exhausted again, the last few weeks of barely any sleep had apparently caught up to him. Andrew seemed to see him fading.

 

“Get some sleep,” he said softly, “I won’t be able to hold off the masses when you next wake up.

 

Neil fell asleep to the question of what the hell does that mean? He soon learned that there was another problem with him not being able to move his legs properly.

 

_He was trapped in the basement again, he could hear Lola’s laugh echoing but he couldn’t see her no matter where he looked. He struggled to get free from his bonds but there was nothing there, he couldn’t move his legs why couldn’t he move his legs? It was too dark to see anything, and then there was a bit of light, he could hear his father’s footsteps thumping down the stairs. He was going to die, he couldn’t get away, he looked down do see why his legs weren’t fucking moving but there was nothing there. They’d cut them off; they’d taken his ability to run._

He woke with a scream, there was a crash from somewhere and then three people came slamming into the room looking for intruders. He couldn’t pay them attention, he kept checking to make sure his legs were still there, holding them tightly so he could feel the ache to his bones, his nails were cutting into his skin but he couldn’t care because his legs were there, they were there. Nathan hadn’t gotten to him it was a dream.

 

 A hand touched his wrist softly and he looked up. Andrew was crouched by him, a wrinkle in his brow. In Neil’s panicked brain he had a random urge to reach out and smooth that wrinkle. He slowly let go of his legs when Andrew pulled his wrist upward.

 

“Oh my god, are you okay?” It seemed Nicky couldn’t stay quiet any longer. Neil and Andrew both snapped up toward him, he took an anxious step back but held his ground.

 

“I'm fine.” Neil said, slowly trying to move his legs. “I’ll be out of your hair thank you for your-“

 

“Oh no you’re not going anywhere.” Aaron said finally stepping in the room, he looked angry. “First you come into my house and attack my brother, and scare my kid.” Neil flinched and Andrew squeezed his wrist, he hadn’t even realized he was still holding it. “Second you come back after literally running yourself into the ground which… who does that? And now you want to leave?”

 

“I- yes?” Neil couldn’t understand why he _wouldn’t_ want him to leave. Aaron scrubbed his hand across his face.

 

“Look kid,”

 

“I'm literally two years younger than you,” Neil couldn’t help himself from saying, Andrew snorted from where he was crouched next to him. Aaron looked taken aback for a minute, whether it was at Neil’s comment or at Andrew’s reaction he wasn’t quite sure, his eyes jumped back and forth between them before settling on the point where Andrew’s hand met Neil’s wrist. His mouth fell open for about two seconds before he seemed to shake himself out of his shock.

 

“Listen Neil, even if you somehow hadn’t managed to endear yourself to my whole family minus the incident with Andrew, you’re also a seriously unwell person and I took an oath to help people.”

 

“I’m not unwell-“

 

“You’re underweight, you don’t look like you’ve slept in weeks even though you’ve slept almost thirteen hours,” Neil couldn’t believe he’d slept that long, he was lucky to get an hour usually. Aaron wasn’t done though. “You’ve exhausted your body to the point where you cant walk, I can’t let you leave at least until you can walk - _comfortably”_ he stressed when Neil opened his mouth. Neil stared at him in shock then turned toward Andrew thinking he would let him leave but he just shrugged.

 

“There’s no point fighting him when he goes into doctor mode.”

 

“He’s right you know!” Trilled Katelyn from the kitchen where she’d clearly been listening. They all fell silent for a moment before Nicky and Aaron stared laughing, Andrew’s mouth twitched at the corners as he stared at his family and Neil wondered if he’d ever be able to make him smile like that. Wait what? He shook his head to clear that thought away, he was obviously more exhausted than he thought he was. Andrew turned his head toward him when a small voice squeaked from the other door of the room.

 

“Is Neil okay?” Neil felt his heart clench at the trepidation he heard in Alex’s voice, his hand twitched the urge to run and keep this child away from him was too strong, he was nothing if not poisonous to all those around him. Andrew looked at him a moment before turning to face his nephew.

 

“He’s okay Alex, would you like to come and talk to him?” Neil stared at him in horror shaking his head slowly, he didn’t want to deal with Alex looking at him with terrified eyes, he _couldn’t_ deal with that. He closed his eyes as he heard little feet patter make their way over to him.

 

He wasn’t expecting two tiny arms to wrap around him. He opened his eyes in shock staring at the little boy who was pulling back and looking at him with big brown _concerned_ eyes.

 

“Mummy said you aren’t very well but they’re going to make you feel better because they’re the best doctors in the world!” Neil couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm when he talked about his parents until Alex turned solemn again, “I hope you get better Neil.”

 

“I-“ Neil choked up, what the hell? This was either an incredibly stable child or an absolutely bonkers one, looking around at the people surrounding them, Neil couldn’t quite decide which one it was, but he decided to go with the first one. “Thank you Alex.” He said quietly, “I hope I do too.”

 

Alex beamed at him hugging him again before Katelyn called him into the kitchen. He stared at Andrew in disbelief who shrugged and stood up.

 

“Looks like we’ve adopted a new stray then.”

 

Neil flipped him off as he walked out and Aaron let out a laugh that seemed to surprise him. Neil felt himself smile a little and then Katelyn came in with some soup for him to eat, followed by Alex who was holding a cookie. Neil thanked them both profusely and ate all his soup, but if he split his cookie with Alex, well, nobody said anything about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, hope you enjoyed please let me know what you thought!!


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple days went fairly similar to each other, with one exception being the arrival of Erik. He was probably the tallest man Neil had ever seen, he would have probably taken a step back if he still wasn’t allowed to stand up. Erik however, had been incredibly happy to meet Neil, apparently Nicky had told him all about the “adventure” they’d had. Neil felt himself flushing when Erik laughed about it. It may seem silly now that he knew the Minyards were good people and to people like Erik who don’t understand, but Neil’s visceral reaction of react and then run came from years and years of fear. He met Andrew’s eyes as Erik turned away and they were dark with... something. They stared at each other before Andrew jerkily got to his feet and left the room. Neil stared after him wondering if he’d done something wrong.

 

He talked probably more than he had in his whole life, over those few days, mainly to Alex who had truly taken a liking to him. They played trucks a lot, Alex using Neil’s stomach as bumpy terrain while Neil struggled not to laugh at how much it tickled. Andrew was often there, watching them play with soft eyes until Alex turned around and saw him, then it would be all three of them playing some make believe game or Andrew and Neil making up wild stories while Alex giggled or listened intently. Eventually one night after Alex had gone to bed and Neil and Andrew were sitting win comfortable silence, Neil built up the courage to ask Andrew something.

 

“Was Alex an accident?” Andrew looked up at him from the book he was reading before putting it down, Neil winced a little internally at how he bent the spine of the book.

 

“He was, but Aaron and Katelyn like to call him a happy accident.”

 

“How did it- I mean, you and Aaron hated each other, didn’t you?” Andrew stared at him for a long time, eventually Neil thought he’d gone too far and Andrew wasn’t going to answer, so it surprised him when Andrew started to speak.

 

“When we were younger, Aaron and I had a deal. I’d protect him from the people who hurt him and he would stay with me and only me and the people I chose he could be friends with.” Something dark flashed through Andrew’s eyes at the mention of Aaron being hurt but it faded as he continued. “Aaron started his relationship with Katelyn without me knowing about it, he knew I wouldn’t approve and would possibly have killed Katelyn, so they kept their relationship a secret. When Katelyn got pregnant I was already starting to clue in to it, but I hadn’t found a reason to confront Aaron about it. A couple weeks after she got pregnant, they fount out about it, by that point it was too late to have an abortion so whether they kept him or not, Alex was going to be born. I walked in on Aaron having a panic attack to Nicky. When I heard about it I was angry, he’d broken our deal and I strongly, too strongly, believed that a deal should never be broken and if it was it would result in me hurting the person who broke the deal or the thing they broke it with.” He took a deep breath as Neil realized what he was saying.

 

“You wanted to hurt Katelyn.” He didn’t put any judgment in his tone; he’d seen people get far more violent over far littler things in his life.

 

“Yes, I did briefly, but then I realized the second thing Aaron had said. I didn’t have many morals back then, but I wouldn’t hurt a pregnant woman. Not because of the woman, but I made a deal with myself to never hurt a child. If she had been getting an abortion that would have been different, it wouldn’t have been a child, but this one would be born, whether they kept it or not and I wouldn’t hurt it no matter what. So I did the only think I could think of, I walked in and asked him outright if they were keeping it or sending it into the foster system. Aaron and Nicky were terrified when I came in, Nicky thought he was going to witness a murder. Eventually Aaron told me they would be keeping him,  he wouldn’t be like our mother.” Andrew laughed coldly to himself.  Neil could feel his pain and all he wanted to do was reach out to him, weird, but he knew that would be a terrible idea right now. So he listened. “When he said that it was the first time he’d admitted out mother’s wrongdoings to me, as much as I told myself I didn’t care, it was a small validation between the rift we had formed.” Neil knew about Andrew’s mother, he had asked Andrew who he had killed on that first night of truths being told. Andrew had more to say though. “I wasn’t going to let the child have the upbringing we had had, so I had to make sure Katelyn was acceptable. I turned up at their dorm with a bunch of baby things because she needed to baby proof her dorm. Aaron didn’t know I was there so she was rather… shocked when she opened the door to me. She did however immediately become defensive, she was pregnant and she wasn’t even trying to protect herself, just protect Alex. So I stayed back and just showed her the baby things I had bought. She cried when I showed her them, it turned out her parents had disowned her when she had told them she was pregnant and she didn’t have much money. She was too scared to tell Aaron. I told her to tell him, he wasn’t stupid and he wouldn’t leave her over shitty parents. She knew that, I guess she just needed someone to push her into it. So she told him and they worked through it. Nicky and I helped them both wherever we could, although Aaron and I still argued it was slowly getting better. When Alex was born things changed even more, I sort of thought I would go back to hating both Aaron and Katelyn once he was born, but when I saw him things just… changed. He was so small and defenseless and I found I didn’t want to not be part of his life, I’d looked after babies when I was in Foster homes. The carer’s often didn’t care about them so it was up to the kids to look after them. I taught Aaron and Katelyn how to swaddle him, how often to feed him and how to change a diaper. They were surprised at how much I knew it was obvious, but they listened.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “Finally Katelyn and Nicky came at Aaron and me, they told us that we had to go to counseling together, Katelyn did not want Alex growing up in a home where there was any hostility between his father and uncle. We fought it originally but we ended up going, for Alex, and now here we are.” He looked a little exhausted, whether it was at how much he’d just revealed or how much he had just spoken Neil wasn’t sure but he felt he owed Andrew something now.

 

“It’s your turn.” Andrew looked at him in quiet thought before standing up.

 

“I don’t have any questions right now, I’ll take my turn later.” He stretched. “Goodnight Neil.” Neil stared after him as he walked out, as he lay down to sleep he said softly into the empty room.

 

“Goodnight Andrew.”

 

He didn’t sleep well that night, weird dreams and nightmares twisted together into an odd mixture of hope and dread. One moment he was with Alex and they were playing and the next he was stuck in the basement again, trying not to cry out because if he did he was sure Nathan would come downstairs.

 

_The basement was large, as a child Neil had always thought it was more like a dungeon. He closed his eyes and tried to count to ten but he couldn’t remember his numbers. Somewhere inside he knew this was a dream, he was half awake and he could feel the couch beneath him, but all he could see was the dungeon. He tried to tell himself to wake up, he tried to cry out, tried to yell for anyone, but no sound came out. There were footsteps above him, the door upstairs finally opened, Neil prepared himself to watch himself die for probably the hundredth time, but the steps on the stairs were different, they weren’t Nathan’s huge thudding footsteps that struck fear into the heart of any of his victims, they weren’t Lola’s excitable skipping steps, they were soft, barely something Neil could hear. Neil realized his hands weren’t tied up anymore so he closed his eyes and ran. When he opened them he wasn’t in the basement anymore, this space was his apartment, but it was different, there was someone here. He whorled around, trying to protect himself, but all he saw was Andrew. He relaxed instantly, Andrew was safe, he felt safe? Andrew stepped into his space and suddenly there were lips on his and…_

Neil woke with a gasp. What the **fuck?** What the hell was that? He touched his fingers to his lips, he was awake on the couch but he could feel Andrew’s lips on his. He closed his eyes trying to calm his beating heart; he’d never had a dream like that, even as a teenager, when he tried out kissing. If he was dreaming about kissing as a child it was usually dreaming about his mother beating him about it. He thumped back into the couch and closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep. A traitorous part of his brain whispered that maybe he wanted to go back to sleep to continue that dream but he growled at it until it slunk away. After about fifteen minutes he sighed and got up, he went to get some water, trying to stop his brain from screwing with him. His legs were much better now, still a little stiff but he thought Aaron and Katelyn might let him actually walk around with permission today.

 

As it always was with Andrew, he felt his presence more than he heard him enter. He didn’t even spin around to acknowledge him until he’d finished his water. When he finally did, Andrew raised an eyebrow at him, probably because he was walking around when he was on bed rest. Neil felt a small part of him panic at the thought that Andrew could somehow read his mind, but he simply stared at him in that calculating way he always did before walking to the freezer and pulling out some ice cream.

 

“It’s literally 5am,” Neil couldn’t help himself from saying; Andrew turned back and glared at him.

 

“Its dessert time somewhere in the world.” Andrew’s face was so petulant that Neil couldn’t help himself from laughing. It was a proper laugh, one he hadn’t done in a long time. He slapped his hand over his mouth in shock, Andrew stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before putting his icecream and padding over softly. He gently pulled Neil’s hand away from his mouth.

 

“Don’t hide your happiness,” he said softly. Neil stared at him in shock for a moment before he suddenly realized how close Andrew was to him. His dream came flooding back to him. He thought for a moment he saw Andrew stare at his mouth, and then Andrew was stepping back and away from him and the moment was lost. Andrew put his icecream back in the freezer and made his way out of the room, before he left he tossed some words over his shoulder.

 

“Get some more sleep Neil, Katelyn is organizing some sort of event for today, you’re going to need your energy.” Then he was gone, heading back upstairs and away.

 

Neil groaned and made his way back over to the couch, he stared at the roof and willed his brain to shut up. Maybe he was getting too much sleep and his body wasn’t used to it so he was going insane. He closed his eyes and willed the rest of the family to wake up soon so he could distract himself from his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!! as Always I appreciate you all 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are my lifeblood pls feed me


	5. Chapter 5

Once Katelyn was up she came in and checked his blisters and his movement in his legs before sitting back happily and telling him he was allowed to get up and walk around as long as he didn’t strain himself too much. Neil was itching to go for a run but he nodded obediently, he was rather under the impression that Katelyn wasn’t somebody you wanted to disobey or disappoint. As it was he stood up and stretched before making his way into the kitchen.

 

“Neil!! You can walk again!” Alex cheered from the table. Neil couldn’t help himself from smiling at Alex’s excitement, no matter how much his brain felt like it was filled with cotton. Aaron passed him a granola smoothie bowl and he nodded at him in thanks before sitting down.

 

“Andrew up yet?” He asked. A weird looked passed between Aaron and Katelyn and she smiled softly at her husband before turning to Neil.

 

“No he’s still asleep, I think he’s avoiding coming downstairs.”

 

“Why?” Neil couldn’t help but be concerned that it was because of the weird moment last night but Aaron smirked.

 

“Because we have people coming over today and he’s sulking because it means he has to socialize.”

 

“Wait… what?” People were coming over? Is that what Andrew meant when he said there was an event on?

 

“Oh! We didn’t tell you Neil I'm so sorry!” Katelyn looked genuinely apologetic. “We have some people from palmetto coming over for an early Christmas celebration.”

 

“Oh, that’s nice. I’ll clear my stuff up and head home once I’ve finished breakfast.” Neil couldn’t help but feel a little sad at having to leave, this family had grown on him in an incredibly surprising way.

 

“Oh no you’re not going anywhere.” Andrew said from behind him making Neil spin around and Katelyn jump. “If I have to put up with them then you do too.”

 

“I- no – what? I don’t know these people and I'm not part of this group nor was I invited-“

 

“Nonsense,” Katelyn interrupted, “you’re staying, everyone will be very happy to meet you.”

 

Neil felt trapped, he was trying to think of a way to say no without being disrespectful or rude, he really didn’t want to offend any of them but a whole group of people he’d never met before but he could have played Exy with sounded like hell to him. Before he could come up with any excuses a hand closed on the back of his neck, honestly the fact that he didn’t jump out of his skin or try to stab Andrew was a testament to how much he seemed to trust these people.

 

“You’re staying.” Andrew said with certainty. Neil closed his eyes and let the last of the fight leave him. Apparently he was staying. He glared a little at Andrew but Andrew just softly smacked the back of his head before going and getting out the ice-cream again. Katelyn pulled it out of his hand and swapped it for a smoothie bowl as well. Andrew didn’t fight her and Neil couldn’t stop himself from laughing as she placed the ice-cream back and Andrew seemed to pout a little. He earned himself a glare but it was halfhearted at best so he just grinned back at Andrew. Andrew’s eyes had some emotion Neil couldn’t quite read but it was gone as soon as it appeared and they both stared at each other until Aaron cleared his throat and the spell was broken. They both quickly went back to eating, Neil’s face felt hot for some reason; maybe he was getting a flu? He’d take his temperature later if he still felt weird. Right now he had to focus on not making a complete ass of himself in front of the other’s friends. This was going to be a long day.

 

It wasn’t in fact that bad, or at least the day wasn’t. He spent most of the day helping where he could, which really consisted of keeping Alex (and Andrew) out from under Katelyn, Aaron and Nicky’s feet as they cleaned and cooked and did those things domestic people did when they had parties. Neil had only seen it from an outside point of view. They had people to do the cleaning for them in Baltimore, and the cooking, his mother had never been a good cook, she maxed out at eggs and ramen noodles, she would say her talents in shooting and killing an enemy were far more important. Now that Neil was older, he wasn’t sure he agreed.

 

Even though he was nervous about meeting new people, the air in the house was the type of tense he actually found he enjoyed, Katelyn stressing about the house not looking perfect until Aaron put his hand on her waist and she relaxed into him. Nicky a whirl in the kitchen, Erik was in there with him to help because he was the least likely to snap at Nicky’s anxiety. Andrew sat curled up with a book unless Alex asked him to do something, occasionally getting up to help Aaron with lifting something that needed to be out of pushing over range. Apparently the foxes were a rowdy bunch. Neil wasn’t particularly sure how Aaron and Andrew would cope with people like that, neither of them seemed particularly inclined to anything to do with loud noises or drama.

 

“We spend most of our first two years pretending the others in the team didn’t exist or me trying to kill them.” Andrew said quietly to Neil’s left. Neil spun around.

 

“How do you _do_ that?”

 

“Do what?” Andrew raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“Read my mind like that? God you’re not a mind reader are you? That would be a mess.”

 

“I’m not a mind reader, why? Do you have thoughts you don’t want me to hear?” Andrew’s voice turned playfully mocking.

 

“No.” _Yes_ Neil’s internal dialogue said, Neil told his internal dialogue to piss off. “But I think considering my brain is basically a consistent scream you might get a headache.” Andrew huffed out a laugh before looking back at his book. Neil found himself grinning, making Andrew laugh was something he was discovering he was rather good at, it was a nice feeling to be a positive in someone’s life for once. 

The doorbell rang and Neil found himself having to physically stop himself from bolting from the room. Andrew raised an eyebrow at him, clearly reading him even though Neil tried to hide it. He made no move to get up and answer the door so Neil figured it was socially acceptable for him to stay in the living room with Andrew. He made his way over and perched on the arm of Andrew’s chair.

 

“What are you reading?” He was genuinely interested but it was also a  bit of an excuse not to think about the guests he could hear being greeted in the other room. From the twitch of Andrew’s mouth it was clear he could tell as well but he was kind enough to answer.

 

“The Song of Achilles, it’s historical and gay, perfect for me.”

 

“O-oh! You’re, so you’re-“

 

“Gay, yes Neil,” Andrew turned to stare at him. “Is that a problem?”

 

“Fuck no, not at all I don’t give a fuck at all I- thank you for telling me?” He didn’t mean for it to sound like a question but he was busy trying to quiet the part of his brain that was whispering _maybe, just maybe._ He really needed to get a hold of himself, he’d never had this issue before and he didn’t understand why it was happening now. Sure Andrew was… okay he was attractive, but he was still a grumpy bastard who… was nice to Neil and made Neil laugh and talked to him and… _fuck._ Luckily a ringing voice saying “Neil?” broke Neil’s train of thought, he turned and found himself staring at his landlord.

 

“What?” It was Andrew who spoke up as Neil gaped at Matt, “How do you know him?” He seemed bordering on suspicious suddenly.

 

“He’s my landlord.” Neil said, broken out of his stupor, this seemed to break Matt out of his.

 

“When you said you were going out for dinner I wasn’t expecting you to disappear for a week, were you staying here the whole time?” His eyes kept passing back and forth between Neil and Andrew and Neil was suddenly aware of just how close to Andrew he was sitting. Andrew didn’t seem to be uncomfortable though so he didn’t get up; he was pretty comfortable where he was. Behind Matt his wife, Danielle, Neil remembered made her way past her husband’s enormous frame, Neil had met her maybe once, she smiled at him and waved hello before her eyes did the same thing Matt’s had been doing and she softly said _oh!_ He wasn’t really sure what about how they were sitting required an oh, but he was spared from asking when the next person came stalking into the room.

 

Allison Reynolds was known everywhere, she had a huge clothing line, a sports brand and a ridiculous amount of money. It was well known she had played Exy with the foxes and could and would kill any man that crossed her. Neil had always admired her even though he’d never met her, often seeing front pages on news articles about her, his favorite was when she kicked a premier in the crotch because he wouldn’t stop coming on to her. She was just as formidable in person as she was in the news. Taller than Neil at probably 5’5”, she wore six inch heels but walked like she was in trainers, he hair and makeup were flawless but her eyes were calculating, it was clear she was far more than just her looks. Neil found for a moment the look in her gray eyes was familiar, one he’d seen in his mother and he felt a sudden ache as he thought of her. He looked away, trying to sort through his muddled thoughts, now was not the time for his issues to arise. A hand on his arm brought him back to the world, Andrew was staring at him, no emotion on his face but minor worry in his eyes.

 

“I’m okay sorry,” Neil said softly to him. Andrew nodded, taking that at face value but his hand didn’t drop.

 

“What the fuck is this?” Allison’s voice pulled Neil from Andrew’s gaze. “Do not tell me the monster got a boyfriend, that’s impossible.” Neil turned back to her, confused.

 

“Monster?”

 

“The one who has his hand on your arm? Andrew Minyard? Palmetto’s very own pet monster?” Allison had an air of not caring when she talked but Neil felt a sudden wave of dislike and anger come over him.

 

“Don’t call him that.” He snapped before he could stop to think about his words. Before he knew it all eyes in the room were on him. Allison and Andrew’s calculating, others in varying levels of shock. “He’s not- I- just don’t.” Neil finished lamely; Andrew Minyard was many things but he was clearly not a monster. Allison looked at him, considering for a minute.

 

“I’m Allison Reynolds, I think I like you.” Matt scrambled to introduce the two of them and Neil nodded at her, he had a feeling with Allison that was the closest to an apology he was going to get so he shrugged and got up to go to the kitchen grabbing a bag of chips (“ _Crisps”_ his mothers voice told him angrily) from the kitchen and made his way back to the arm of Andrew’s chair. Everyone had made themselves comfortable on the couch or chairs or floor in Matt and Dan’s case. It seemed somewhat cozy or at least what Neil would expect that to feel like. The Baltimore house had always been cold and dark. It was warm in here, calm chatter drifted over him as he ate his chips, smacking Andrew’s hand away every so often as he tried to steal from him. He felt a sense of calm coming over him until he heard a voice, both familiar and completely wrong burst out.

 

“What the _Fuck?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooh cliffhanger
> 
> Next chapter is the last before the epilogue, i hope you've enjoyed this series!


	6. Chapter 6

“What the _Fuck?”_

 

Neil felt all the color in his face drain away, from Andrew’s sharp look it was clear he had noticed. Neil dragged his eyes up to look at a face, so familiar to him it almost hurt. An old friend, an old obsession, an old sadness, Kevin Day stood with a look that probably mirrored Neil’s slightly terrified, slightly horrified and a little in awe.

 

“You’re supposed to be dead.” Kevin had never been subtle at least. Everyone in the room was looking back and forth between the two men. Neil felt his breathing start to stutter. Suddenly drawing in a breath _hurt_ he was in his father’s basement again, he was on the run with his mother, he was watching her body burn. He started to get up, to run just _anything,_ but a hand landed heavily on the back of his neck, pushing his head between his knees.

 

“Breathe.” A voice told him, a familiar voice, not a nightmare from a childhood, a real voice. He coughed out a laugh at the abruptness of the comment before taking large gasping breaths. When he finally got a hold of himself he looked up to every eye on him. He couldn’t deal with the pitying or considering looks he was getting from the guests and Aaron and Katelyn and he sure as hell couldn’t deal with the confused and a little sick look he was getting from Kevin. Before he could panic again a hand softly tapped his cheek bringing his attention to two warm brown eyes. They may have looked empty to most but this close Neil could see the worry and the tiredness within them. He felt himself relax before he even knew what was happening.

 

“I think us three should talk elsewhere Kevin.” Andrew said, not breaking eye contact with Neil. Kevin swallowed and nodded and Andrew slowly stood up, pulling Neil up by his shirtsleeves.

 

Once they made it outside all hell broke loose. The first thing Neil felt was that he was flying through the air and his breath was knocked out of him as Kevin slammed him up against the wall.

 

“What are you doing here Wesninski?” Kevin’s hands were shaking but he held tight. “I’ve made my payments, you have no reason to be going after my friends like this.”

 

“Going after your what? –“ Neil coughed a little at the pressure on his chest and throat, it pressed a bit harder before suddenly getting ripped away. Neil breathed in deeply through his nose as he tried to get his bearings again.

 

“That’s enough Kevin.” Andrew’s voice was calm but the threat was still clear.

 

“Andrew you don’t understand. There’s a reason he has all those scars he’s-“

 

“The son of the butcher of baltimore I know.”

 

Kevin froze, clearly not having expected that answer to flow so calmly out of Andrew’s mouth. He stared between the both of them in shock for a minute.

 

“You know? And you let him stay in your brother’s house? Andrew this man has killed a lot of people.”

 

“We all have our pasts.”

 

“We’re not all _murderers_ Andrew.” Kevin threw his arms up in frustration. Neil finally stepped in between them and looked at Kevin properly. He gathered up all his courage and he began.

 

“I’ll tell you everything.”

 

“What?” Kevin was looking at him in shock.

 

“I’ll tell you everything that happened to me and why I did what I did Kevin if that’s what you want.”

 

“I- yeah okay sure, go for it. There’s got to be some reason Andrew’s protecting you.” Kevin finally agreed, his fear still seemed greater than his trust in Andrew’s judgment, so Neil started.

 

“When I was ten, my mother pulled me out of bed in the middle of the night. I didn’t know what was going on, just that she hissed at me to put on some clothes and then dragged me out to the car by my hair. By the time I finally got her to tell me what was happening we were half way to London. She ran away, and she took me with her. We stayed at my uncle’s house for a little while but he was involved in the crime rings in London and she didn’t want anything to do with that life anymore. So we ran.

 

We changed our names, we changed our looks, we never spoke to anyone more than we had to. After six years of doing this, my father finally caught up to us. My mother was killed in the fight and I burned her body inside a car on a beach.” Kevin gasped and Neil inhaled shakily, the smell of smoke appearing in his nose making him want to retch. “This part of the story you know, you didn’t know it was me at the time, but I went to Milport after my mother desk. I started up playing Exy again. My mother had beaten me when ever I mentioned it while we were on the run but she was dead and I – I needed to do it. What I wasn’t expecting was for Wymack and you and Andrew to turn up.”

 

“Wait a minute.” Kevin frowned. “Are you saying you were Neil Josten?” Neil nodded shakily and Keven suddenly looked furious. “You cost us the season you asshole.”

 

“Kevin,” Andrew said firmly, “focus.” Kevin took a deep breath before motioning for Neil to continue.

 

“I said yes because you wouldn’t leave me alone. I wanted to come god I wanted it with everything I had, but it was too dangerous, just because you hadn’t noticed yet didn’t mean that you wouldn’t in the future, I knew the Moriyama’s had dealings with my father and I was not willing to sacrifice everything my mother had taught me just for a stupid sport.” Kevin made an affronted noise but Neil kept talking before he could say anything. “So I kept running. I spent all the money my mother stole from my father on fake ID’s. They caught up to me in New York, I was living on the streets so as not to attract any attention and I guess one of the homeless guys had connections.” He gestured to his face. “You can see what they did to me once they found me. My uncle Stuart eventually found me, they were planning to be done with me by then but they were having too much fun. I was underweight and weak and Nathan did always like to play with his victims when he could.” He smiled coldly, he felt Andrew’s hand tap at his arm and he relaxed again, he hadn’t even realized he was tensing up. “When Stuart did come, he didn’t know I was there it just happened to be a right place right time situation. Once he’d killed off Nathan he left me for the FBI to find. They eventually put me into witness protection but let me keep my name. My name is Neil Josten, I am not my father’s son I want nothing to do with my past. Don’t take this from me Kevin.” His voice broke at the end, he didn’t know what else to say, he leaned into Andrew without thinking and Andrew’s arm came out, stead as always to hold him upright. Kevin looked between them his face tight before finally relaxing a little.

 

“Fine. But I'm doing this for Andrew, not for you.” He said before making his way in. Neil stared after him in confusion.

 

“What the hell did he mean doing it for you?” He said, turning to Andrew who had a small crease in between his eyebrows.

 

“I don’t know.” Andrew said softly, he didn’t look confused though, he looked a little angry and a bit like he was trying to work out a puzzle and Neil was the answer.

 

“I think you know what he’s talking about Andrew.”

 

“You can’t think, you don’t have a brain idiot.”

 

“Andrew.” Neil said firmly. Andrew looked at him and sighed, his forehead finally smoothing out.

 

“You are a pipe dream.”

 

“I’m not a pipe dream?”

 

“Yes or No?”

 

“What?”

 

“Yes or No Neil?”

 

“Um- yes.”

 

He didn’t expect Andrew’s lips on him and he made a soft noise of surprise. Andrew started to pull away but Neil found he didn’t want that and pulled him back in by his sleeves. This time it was Andrew’s turn to make a grunt of surprise. Neil paused and took a deep breath.

 

“Yes or No Andrew?”

 

Andrew pushing him up against the wall and licking into his mouth was answer enough.

 

                                                            ____________

 

By the time they made it back inside Neil’s face was red with wind chill and his lips were bruised and swollen from kisses. Andrew wasn’t much better off but he wore it with the grace of someone who knew he would never be called out on it. Neil however wasn’t so lucky. As soon as Andrew left, Katelyn pounced.

 

“Sooooo…. What were you guys doing out there so long?”

 

“Um, we were smoking?”

 

“You don’t smell like smoke?”

 

“Uh, weird coincidence I guess?”

 

“Ugh, you’re no fun.” Katelyn pouted. “Don’t worry by the way, Kevin explained to everyone that you know each other from when you were younger.”

 

“The others don’t have… questions?”

 

“They’re foxes Neil, they push too far and they’re loud and obnoxious, but they all know what it’s like to have a past you don’t want to keep around. You aren’t going to get any questions.” She looked at him with soft eyes. “Now,” she said sternly, “you shouldn’t have been outside “smoking” so long, you’re still getting better. Into the living room and I’ll bring you some soup. - Uh uh nope!” she said when Neil opened his mouth to argue. “You have no say in this Josten, go sit in the living room.” It was very hard to argue with a woman who was both a nurse and a mother so Neil did what he was told.

 

He made his way into the living room but apart from a couple of inquisitive looks nobody said anything negative to him. He sat down next to Andrew, possibly a littler closer than he should but hey, who could really blame him. He felt Andrews hand softly touch his thigh before Matt pulled them both into a conversation about whether ice hockey was just shitty exy or exy was better ice hockey. Neil argued in Exy’s favor of course and Andrew against, Neil found himself laughing when Kevin heard Andrew’s point about exy not even having real goals and flew into a fully fledged rant about how exy was the best sport. He turned to look at Andrew and saw a smudge of humour and mischief in Andrew eyes.

 

“You said that loudly on purpose didn’t you?” Neil whispered to him.

 

“You have no proof.” Andrew said not turning toward him. Neil laughed softly swaying slightly into Andrew. Andrew’s arm came up and around his lower back and he found himself leaning more heavily on him.

 

“Is this okay?” he whispered, this was all really new to him but he needed to make sure. Andrew glared at him before pulling him closer but Neil pulled away slightly, looking at Andrew properly while Kevin continued his rant in the background. Andrew rolled his eyes but a small blush appeared on his cheekbones.

 

“Yes idiot, it’s okay.” Neil felt his whole body grow warm at those words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is 100 years late and I am truly sorry but I had some issues and my computer deleted all of my WIP's and just about everything from the past 10 years so I've been in mourning and not really feeling like writing ;-;
> 
>  
> 
> Thats it! I really hope you enjoyed this series, epilogue is to come (probably) but i had so much fun writing this. 
> 
> Pls send me Kudos and Comments, they dont help me pay rent but they do make me happy.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this! New chapter will either come out every four days or once a week I'm unsure which yet!
> 
> thank you for reading let me know what you think and leave kudos :)


End file.
